Wind decides a lot in the mountains. It moves snow from one slope to another, loads some faces and strips others, builds the cornice that makes a ridge worth avoiding. By the time you arrive, most of the decisions about where you can ski have already been made for you. You read what the wind did and choose accordingly.

In the ocean it works further ahead. A swell may start as wind in a storm thousands of kilometres away and arrive days later as the wave you paddle for. You join something that was set in motion long before you got there.

Inside, the same principle applies.
In Tibetan, lung means wind, and also the energy of the mind that moves with the breath. Breathe quickly and shallowly, and the mind tends to follow. Slow the breath, and something within slows with it.

There is wind outside and wind within us. Neither is fully under our control. But…

Wind & Mind is not about stopping the wind. It is about learning to move with it, discovering the right direction along the way.

Direction is the part that gets forgotten. In snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing, one simple tip can instantly improve your technique: look where you want to go. Attention works the same way: where it goes, energy follows. The energy moves regardless; where you put your attention decides what it becomes.

I have spent most of my life practising the first half of that sentence. The second half came later, and more slowly.

Follow the project as it unfolds: raw thoughts, ideas taking shape, finished plans, decisions in progress, mistakes and misconceptions, days when it is better not to leave the house, and days when you never want to come down from the mountain. Simply my honest and open personal notebook.

P.S.: Up in the mountains near Batumi (Georgia), there is this “door to eternity” (On the photo). By the way, it’s a great spot for meditation or just spending a couple of days. Also, it’s currently Crocus-blooming season (as seen in the section’s main photo), and I’m heading there in a few days with my mountain bike. Feel free to join me if you’d like.